Method and apparatus for making slide fasteners



April 9, 1935. G. H. c. CORNER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SLIDE FASTENERS Filed Nov. 28, 1932 DINVENTOR. H C. Corner ATTORNEYS.

Geo e B)" Patented Apr. 9, 1935 PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SLIDE FASTENERS George Henry Clifford Corner, Birmingham,

land, assignor to Hookless Eng- Fastener Company,

a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 28, 1932, Serial No. 644,614 In Great Britain December 1, 1931 7 Claims.

This invention relates to slide fasteners of the type in which each of a pair of flexible stringers, such as fabric tape, is provided along one edge with a series of interlocking elements or teeth,

5 called scoops, both rows of scoops passing through a slider which when moved in one direction guides them into interlocked relation to close the fastener and when moved in the opposite direction separates theteeth to open the fastener.

In such fasteners, as more fully disclosed in the patent to Sundback-1,219,881, the interlocking elements each have an asymmetrical head portion provided with a locking projection or hump designed to fit into a locking recess of the adjacent interlocking element, and also have a base or bifurcated portion whose two prongs are adapted to be clamped about an edge, usually beaded, of a flexible supporting strip or tape. The interlocking elements are uniformly spaced along the edge of the tape.

Slide fasteners of this type have heretofore been made by first forming the interlocking elements in a suitable forming machine, holding them in the machine, and subsequently clamping them, one at a time, to the edge of the tape.

It is sometimes desirable to perform-operations, such as finishing, smoothing, or plating, on individual interlocking elements before they are secured to the tape. This requires the removal of the interlocking elements from the forming machine and their being handled en masse, for example, in a plating barrel. After they leave the forming machine,.the interlocking elements are no longer in orderly arrangement, but must be picked out of the random mass and be arranged in orderly fashion before they can be clamped to the tape.

It has heretofore been proposed by me and.

others to arrange the interlocking elements by means of a suitablemachine and place themin a comb or rack with their bifurcated bases exposed and in alignment, insert a tape in the spaces between the prongs and then clamp the prongs to the tape. It will be appreciated that in fasteners of this type the individual interlocking elements are very small and must be very accurately spaced along the tape. This has led to difliculty in arranging the interlocking elements in a rack. The'spaces which receive the interlocking elements must be sufliciently larger than the elements to permit the elements to be rapidly inserted. However, because the elements are so small, the necessary clearance for inserting them is a very large proportion of the space between individual elements and if sufficient clearance is employed to render practical the insertion of the elements in the comb, this may result in objectionably inaccurate spacing of the elements on the tape.

The present invention is concerned with a comb or rack for receiving the interlocking elements and has among its objects to provide a rack which is adjustable, that is one in which the thickness of the element-receiving spaces may be increased above normal to facilitate placing of the elements therein, and which may thereafter be adjusted to space the elements very accurately and hold them firmly so spaced.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view, partly in longitudinal vertical section of one form of machine for arranging the interlocking elements,

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of part of a chute in the arranging machine,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of the scoopreversing portion of one of the chutes of the arranging machine,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view partly broken away of one form of rack constructed in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of a modified form of rack, extended,

Fig. 6 is a View corresponding to Fig. 5 showing the rack compressed, and

Fig. 7 shows a clamping press for securing the interlocking elements to the tape.

As shown best in Fig. 4,. each interlocking element In has an asymmetrical head portion including an interlocking projection'or hump l2, an interlocking recess or depression M, (Fig. 7) and a bifurcated base having prongs I 6 whichare to be clamped to the bead! (Fig. 7) of the tape l9.

The scoops may be arranged by the apparatus, shown in Figs. 1 to 3. A rotary hopper or tumbler 20 is mounted on a spindle journalled in any suitable supports 22 and rotated by pulley 23 and belt 24 from any suitable source of power, not shown. A quantit of the scoops I 0 is placed in the hopper by hand or in any suitable manner. As the hopper is rotated the scoops are carried up by bames 25, and when each bafiie nears the top of the hopper, the scoops it carries are showered upon a shelf 26 which directs them to the slot 21 in the top of the chute 28 one end of which projects within the hopper into the path of the falling scoops. Some of the scoops strike the chute so that the prongs l6 drop within the slot, the scoops being held in the slot by the projections l2 and sliding by gravity down the chute. It is essential that all of the scoops be arranged with the projections in the same direction. Obviously some of the scoops will be lodged in the slot with the projections in the reverse direction to that desired. These latter are automatically removed when they come to the nick 30 which permits the projections to drop through the slot. The rejected scoops drop out of the chute through the opening 3| into the receptacle 32 from which they, are periodically returned to the hopper. Those scoops which lodge in the slot with the projections pointingv away from the nick 30, pass by the nick and eventually strike the adjustable stop 33. At this point they gravitate down the slot 34 into the delivery chute 35, the cross section of which is shown in Fig. 4. All of the scoops are positioned originally in this chute with their prongs down and the humps projecting through or into the narrow slot 36.

The delivery chute includes a reversing portion shown in Fig. 3. A pin or stop 40 is placed to strike one prong of the descending scoop as shown in full lines III in Fig. 3. V

The scoop pivots about the stop into the position shown by the dotted lines Illa inFlg. 3 and drops into the laterally offset portion 35a of the chute 35. From this point the scoops are fed by gravity, head down, through the discharge end 35a of the chute as shown in Fig. 4.

. The scoops are discharge from the chute into a rack, one form of which is shown in Fig. 4, including a. pair of side walls 4| which serve as means for aligning the scoops in a horizontal plane and include between them a T shaped slot in which are stacked a number of T shaped members. These include supports 42 alternating with separating members 44. The T shaped members are slidable in the slot and between each two adjacent members a spring 46 is placed for normally urging the members apart, the members being suitably provided with recesses as shown in Fig. 4, for the reception of the springs. The side walls 4|, supports 32, and separating members 44 cooperate to provide a series of pockets 48, the supports 42 serving to align the scoops in a vertical plane. As the rack is passed beneath the discharge chute 35, a scoop automatically drops into each pocket. The springs normally force the separating members 42 apart'as indicated in Fig. 4, increasing the length of the pockets 48 to provide sufficient clearance to permit the scoops readily to drop into the pockets. After the pockets have been filled the separating members 44 are pressed towards each other, con-- veniently by a plunger 50 actuated by cam 52,

. until the separating members and supports are in actual contact. The cam holds the members firmly in this position. The members are so proportioned that when all are firmly in contact the scoops are held snugly betw n the separating members at the exact spaci g required for disposition on the tape.

When the rack has been filled the delivery of scoops is stopped by means of a suitable detent 54 which may be placed by hand in the path of the scoops at the lower end of the chute 35a.

The filled rack is then removed from the chute, a tape I9 is placed in the space between the prongs and the prongs are pressed on to the tape in any suitable manner as by the press 56 shown in Fig. '7.

Figs. 5 and 6 show an alternative form of rack in which the supports 42a are integrally joined to the separating members 44a to provide integral springs.

pocket members. These pocket members are slidably keyed upon a rod 58, springs 60 being placed between adjacent members normally to urge them apart as shown in Fig. 5.

The rod is provided with any suitable end stop 62 and a cam 64 at its opposite end for urging the separating members against the force of the Fig. 6 shows th emodifled form of rack in its closed position, the pocket members being held firmly in contact by the cam.

While I have shown and described in this application two embodiments which my invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that these embodiments are merely for the purposes of illustration and description and that various other forms may be devised within the scope of my invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. The method of attaching to a flexible carrier strip a plurality of separate and individual interlocking elements each having a bifurcated base portion and an asymmetrical head portion which consists in assembling a group of more than two of the individual elements in loosely spaced relation with their head portions similarly faced and the base portions in alignment, accurately spacing the elements of said group at equal distances in one edge with a plurality of uniformly spaced interlocking elements each having an asymmetrical head portion and a bifurcated base portion, the combination of means for assembling the separate and individual elements with their head portions facing the same way, means for arranging a group of more than two of the individual elements with their bases in alignment and in approximately uniformly spaced relation, and means for moving the elements of the entire group in alignment into accurately spaced relation.

3. In a device for making fasteners of the type having a flexible carrier strip provided along one edge with a plurality of uniformly spaced interlocking elements each having an asymmetrical head portion and a bifurcated base portion, the combination of means for assembling the separate and individual elements with their head portions facing the same way, means for arranging a group of more than two of the individual elements with their bases in alignment and in approximately uniformly spaced relation, and means for moving the elements of the entire group in alignment into accurately spaced relation and for holding the elements firmly in such accurately spaced relation.

4. In a device for making fasteners of the type having a flexible carrier strip provided. along one edge with a plurality of uniformly spaced interlocking elements, the combination of means for holding a plurality of interlocking elements in alignment, a plurality of spaced and aligned separating members for maintaining a predetermined interval between the interlocking elements, means normally tending to increase the spacing between the separating members, means for urging the separating members together, and stops between the separating members to determine the minimum spacing between such members.

5. In a device for making fasteners of the type 1,997,042 I having a flexible carrier strip provided along one edge with a plurality of uniformly spaced interlocking elements, the combination of means for holding interlocking elements in alignment in a horizontal plane, movable spaced individual supports for holding the interlocking elements in alignment in a, vertical plane, separating means between each two adjacent supports for spacing the interlocking elements, and means for moving 10 the supports and separating means inalignment GEORGE HENRY CLIFFORD CORNER. l0 

